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Netflix Executive Admits a VPN-Blocking Policy Might Be Impossible To Enforce (theglobeandmail.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the lost-cause dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt has admitted that the company has 'no magic solution' to subscribers who use VPNs to access content not licensed for their geographical region, commenting that 'It's likely to always be a cat-and-mouse game'. Hunt notes that Netflix can only rely on lists of VPN IP addresses, and that these can easily be changed. However since Netflix subscribers pay for the service via geographically linked credit and debit cards, this article wonders if Netflix really believes that hundreds of thousands of their subscribers are permanently in migration or on holiday — and also that venerable old VPN IP addresses — ones so well-known that they are routinely challenged by services such as CloudFlare — never seem to have any trouble connecting to a Netflix account.

3 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Netflix doesn't care by Fwipp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Netflix doesn't care if people outside the Approved Content Zone are watching (and paying). They only have to pretend to care, to appease the other corporations they're licensing media from.

  2. MPAA is that you? by The-Ixian · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This article certainly seems to be slanted toward the interests of the copyright holders.

    I think that as long as Netflix makes a token effort, that is all that is required. As has been stated many times in these comments, "Follow the money"

    Why would Netflix be interested being heavy handed about who they sell subscriptions to? There are legitimate reasons someone might be streaming over a VPN. Perhaps the VPN user is worried about ISP snooping or is on a public network.

    Anyway, I am not super optimistic about Netflix's future. Now that other content providers have their own distribution systems, they don't really need Netflix any more. I find less and less content on Netflix all the time. I actually find that I am watching my add-free Hulu more than anything these days.

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  3. What if you're on US "soil" abroad? by mitcheli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had to use VPN's to watch my properly paid for Netflix account while I was stationed overseas on a US Military Base. For all intensive purposes, I was on US soil (meeting geographic requirements), using a US leased commercial provider and was a US serviceman using a US form of payment. How much more US can I be besides being on the mainland? Yet, my access was blocked. One VPN later and my viewing was restored. Sometimes we need VPN's to make it all work.

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